Armies Ready for Court Battle But Are Unable to Find a Fight

Published: July 24, 2005

Ed Gillespie, the White House commando in charge of the selling of Judge John G. Roberts for a seat on the highest court in the land, was settled into his temporary West Wing office on Friday with a ready army and almost no enemy to fight.

Some war room: the telephones were silent, Fox News was unwatched in a corner, no aides bustled in and out. With Congress gone for another sultry weekend, it was just Mr. Gillespie and his sidekick, Steve Schmidt, a top adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney who is moonlighting as the communications director in the Roberts sales campaign.

What do the two do all day?

''There are meetings punctuated by brief periods of nonmeetings,'' said Mr. Gillespie, who has temporarily vacated his office in his lucrative downtown lobbying firm, Quinn Gillespie & Associates. Mr. Gillespie, the former Republican National Committee chairman who attacked Senator John Kerry as a waffler in the 2004 presidential campaign, appeared in relative repose in a wing chair. Mr. Schmidt parked himself on Mr. Gillespie's empty desk.

It was clear that the much-anticipated mother of all Supreme Court battles had yet to be joined and that Judge Roberts had not sparked the kind of partisan uproar that others might have, which would have turned the capital upside down for the summer. [Week in Review.]

Still, both sides are poised for a fight, with millions of dollars ready to be spent. Groups on the left have been sending millions of e-mail messages questioning Judge Roberts's position on abortion, and Democrats are already preparing their topics for his expected grilling before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September. At this point, he may be considered a nondogmatic conservative, but the hearings have not yet begun.

''He's seen as a nice, open Midwestern fellow,'' said Senator Charles E. Schumer, a New York Democrat and a member of the committee. ''But if he refuses to answer any questions or give any further information about himself, that view could change.''

In other words, three days after Mr. Bush nominated Judge Roberts to replace the retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, it was still a long way to the opening of the court on Oct. 3, when Mr. Bush has said he wants to have his nominee in place. Mr. Gillespie, the White House's favorite pit bull in the 2004 campaign, and Mr. Schmidt, a former Bush campaign spokesman, knew the relative calm was unlikely to last.

Already the two had helped orchestrate a news conference on Thursday for Judge Roberts's parents outside their home in Ellicott City, Md., presided over by the vice president's press secretary, who cut off the questions after five minutes. ''Judge Roberts's parents were besieged by reporters calling every 30 seconds,'' Mr. Schmidt said, adding that the White House then suggested that they ''go make a statement, and talk about how proud you are, and people will leave you alone.''

Mr. Gillespie's operation has also called newspapers to correct mistaken reports that Judge Roberts is a dues-paying member of the conservative Federalist Society (although he is active in its events) and provided talking points for guests on the Sunday morning television interview programs.

Over at the Republican National Committee, Mr. Gillespie's old turf, staff members e-mailed talking points supporting Judge Roberts to members of Congress and conservative groups by 7:47 p.m. Tuesday, about two minutes after the news of his nomination began breaking. Progress for America, a conservative group that has close ties to Mr. Gillespie's operation and Karl Rove, the president's chief political adviser, announced a $1 million public relations campaign on behalf of Judge Roberts, including television and radio commercials, mass e-mailings and advertising on newspaper Web sites.

Mr. Gillespie, who got his start in politics parking cars in the Senate lot, began Friday around 7 a.m. in his sparse second-floor corner office in the West Wing, recently vacated by the former White House personnel director, Dina Powell, who is now the deputy under secretary of state for public diplomacy. Mr. Gillespie went to the 7:30 a.m. White House senior staff meeting, the 8:30 a.m. White House communications meeting and then at 9 a.m. ran his own meeting, which lasted about 20 minutes.

What is the point of his meeting?

Mr. Schmidt jumped in.

''That's what we talk about at 9:20,'' he deadpanned.

Mr. Gillespie's meeting is in effect the White House's Supreme Court morning strategy session. Mr. Rove attends, as do Dan Bartlett, the counselor to the president, and Nicolle Devenish, the White House communications director. There are also people from the offices of the White House counsel and legislative affairs. Another person comes from the White House public liaison office, which is in charge of working with the conservative advocacy groups. More people call in to the meeting from the Justice Department and the Republican National Committee.

So far, there has not been that much to do. Everyone has kept track of Judge Roberts's courtesy calls on Capitol Hill. Everyone has read the papers, watched the cable news and tried to push the White House line on reporters. For example: ''He's one of the most qualified nominees who's ever been put forward for the Supreme Court, really, he is,'' Mr. Schmidt said.

On Friday the group also ran down the list of guests on the Sunday morning interview programs, among them top Republicans like Senators John McCain of Arizona and John Cornyn of Texas and Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales.

One topic at his meeting, Mr. Gillespie said, was who would call the guests ''and check in and say, 'Do you need any information, do you have the background you need on how many senators were consulted in the process, do you have Judge Roberts's bio and the background on him, do you have these quotes from these prominent Democrats who have said these good things about him?'''

In the meantime, Mr. Gillespie said, ''all those things are going on, but despite the predictions and the anticipation that things are different now, that it's not going to be like Breyer and Kennedy and Ginsburg and Souter, the fact is, it's a lot like Breyer and Kennedy and Ginsburg and Souter. The fundamentals have not changed.''

It was, he added, easier than the travel and combat of the campaign. ''First of all, it is a more dignified process,'' he said. ''Secondly, I'm not in the airport in Milwaukee right now, which is nice.''

On the other hand, Mr. Gillespie said he never made it home to suburban Virginia on Tuesday, the night Mr. Bush announced his nomination of Judge Roberts, because he was in his office until 11:30 p.m. Because he had to be at the White House around 6 a.m. the next day, in time for Mr. Bush's 7 a.m. breakfast with Judge Roberts, he stayed in a hotel, but did not sleep.

Soon enough, Mr. Gillespie and Mr. Schmidt shooed a reporter out of the office. They had a 2:30 p.m. meeting.

What was that meeting about?

''It's a meeting about the 3 o'clock meeting,'' Mr. Gillespie said.

Photos: Members of Judge John G. Roberts's family held a news conference Thursday at his parents' home in Maryland. From left, sisters, Barbara Burke and Peggy Roberts, and parents, Rosemary and John. (Photo by Carol T. Powers for The New York Times)(pg. 18); Ed Gillespie leads an army for Judge John G. Roberts but has not come under much enemy fire. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)(pg. 1)